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Howard women make key plays, top SSU, 64-51

The Savannah State women hoped to show they could play with the upper echelon of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference on Saturday afternoon.

SSU stayed within striking distance most of the afternoon but couldn’t match Howard’s propensity to make key plays at key moments at Tiger Arena.

The Bison twice sank 3-pointers with time running down on the shot clock at critical moments and had a rare 5-point possession with less than 3½ minutes to play to pull away from Savannah State, 64-51.

The Tigers (8-12, 2-6 MEAC) had a two-game winning streak snapped.

“(Howard) is a team we can measure ourselves by,” SSU coach Cedric Baker said.

The Tigers and Bison mirrored each other for most of Saturday. Both like to play half-court offense and both rely on smothering defense.

But the Bison (14-7, 6-2 MEAC) rode the all-around play of 5-foot-11 junior forward Saadia Doyle, last season’s MEAC Player of the Year. Doyle, from Columbia High in Atlanta, poured in a game-high 22 points with 10 rebounds.

It was Doyle’s gut-wrenching 3-pointer after the Tigers played 29 seconds of hard-nosed defense that upped Howard’s lead to 50-41 with 11:27 left.

The shot temporarily silenced an SSU rally that had trimmed a 13-point Howard lead to six.

Three minutes later, an instant replay. The Bison led 50-44 when Zykia Brown noticed the shot clock down to one. And from 5 feet past the 3-point circle, Brown heaved in a set shot.

SSU was still within eight, 55-47, with 3:27 left when Howard’s Cheyen Curley-Payne sank a 3-pointer. Away from the ball, the Tigers’ Ezinne Kalu was whistled for a foul while boxing out Doyle.